E Fund Management Co. Ltd. Buys Shares of 5,366 NetApp, Inc. $NTAP

E Fund Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 5,366 shares of the data storage provider’s stock, valued at approximately $830,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NTAP. Park Square Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of NetApp by 68.7% during the fourth quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC now owns 253 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Gen Wealth Partners Inc purchased a new position in shares of NetApp in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. DV Equities LLC bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Roble Belko & Company Inc bought a new position in shares of NetApp during the 1st quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Torren Management LLC purchased a new stake in NetApp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. 92.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

NetApp Trading Down 5.0%

NASDAQ NTAP opened at $194.48 on Thursday. NetApp, Inc. has a 1 year low of $93.69 and a 1 year high of $209.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The company has a market capitalization of $38.16 billion, a PE ratio of 30.58, a P/E/G ratio of 3.67 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a fifty day moving average of $171.67 and a 200 day moving average of $133.81.

NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The data storage provider reported $2.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.27 by ($0.24). NetApp had a net margin of 18.43% and a return on equity of 117.23%. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.93 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. NetApp has set its FY 2027 guidance at 8.700-9.000 EPS and its Q1 2027 guidance at 2.050-2.150 EPS. Research analysts forecast that NetApp, Inc. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current year.

NetApp Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 10th were issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 10th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. NetApp’s payout ratio is presently 32.70%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on NTAP. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on NetApp from $115.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Wedbush increased their price target on NetApp from $115.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded NetApp from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley upgraded NetApp from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $137.00 to $173.00 in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Northland Securities upped their price objective on shares of NetApp from $137.00 to $171.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $177.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NetApp news, President Cesar Cernuda sold 49,464 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.82, for a total transaction of $7,658,016.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the president directly owned 46,806 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,246,504.92. This represents a 51.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Lorenzo Daniel De sold 225 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.09, for a total transaction of $38,495.25. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 1,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $186,488.10. This trade represents a 17.11% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 55,297 shares of company stock worth $8,758,016. Company insiders own 0.36% of the company’s stock.

NetApp Profile

NetApp, Inc (NASDAQ: NTAP) is a data management and storage company that delivers hybrid cloud data services for applications and data. Founded in 1992 as Network Appliance and rebranded as NetApp in 2008, the company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. NetApp’s offering focuses on enabling organizations to store, manage, protect and move data across on-premises environments and major public clouds.

The company’s product portfolio centers on the ONTAP data management software and a range of storage systems and services built around it.